Japanese Gothic

About the book

New York Times Most Anticipated Book for 2026 USA TODAY Most Anticipated Books of 2026 Goodreads Readers' Most Anticipated Books of 2026 Book Riot "Our Most Anticipated Books of 2026" In this lyrical, wildly inventive horror novel interwoven with Japanese mythology, two people living centuries apart discover a door between their worlds. October, 2026: Lee Turner doesn’t remember how or why he killed his college roommate. The details are blurred and bloody. All he knows is he has to flee New York and go to the one place that might offer refuge—his father’s new home in Japan, a house hidden by sword ferns and wild ginger. But something is terribly wrong with the house: no animals will come near it, the bedroom window isn't always a window, and a woman with a sword appears in the yard when night falls. October, 1877: Sen is a young samurai in exile, hiding from the imperial soldiers in a house behind the sword ferns. A monster came home from war wearing her father’s face, but Sen would do anything to please him, even turn her sword on her own mother. She knows the soldiers will soon slaughter her whole family when she sees a terrible omen: a young foreign man who appears outside her window. One of these people is a ghost, and one of these stories is a lie. Something is hiding beneath the house of sword ferns, and Lee and Sen will soon wish they never unburied it.

Where the score comes from

The sources average 7.8 across 81 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 31% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Horror average of 7.5. That is how 8.0 comes out.

Reader voices

The most-liked reviews on Hardcover (credited to their authors).

• “What a drug induced trip this was, omggg. Even from the beginning it is clear that at least one of the narrators are unreliable, which is something I really really enjoyed, it was a fun trip to be in Lee's mind and try to figure out what is real and what is just the figment of his brain and the drugs in his system, but really, the ending of the book just flipped it all onto its head and now I am unsure what specifically happened, I am not sure I could fully even explain it, though that was probably the point of that ending. Like I said, I really enjoyed Lee's drug trips and all the weird shit…”

  ★ 4/5Neniko95 on Hardcover

• “This book entirely lived up to, and possibly surpassed, the hype. The writing was superb — Barker has an eerie ability to make even the most gruesome scenes almost beautiful in the description. I could see the entire narrative playing out behind my eyes like a movie, which at times was shocking and disgusting. I loved the completeness of each time period’s version of their world. I loved that the turtles were woven throughout, that we were given tastes of the reality behind the illusion as the characters themselves became more aware. I appreciated that the relationship built between the two MC…”

  ★ 4.5/5kirisuna on Hardcover

• “Japanese Gothic deals with two different characters across timelines: Lee Turner is from the year 2026 and has fled from America and gone to his father’s home in Japan after killing his roommate. Sen is a young girl in Japan in 1877, trying to become a samurai. Both live in the same house across centuries. However, Sen and Lee find a closet door that breaches between timelines and allows them to visit and communicate with each other. Will going back and forth throughout time change Lee and Sen’s destiny? The story of Lee and Sen is a tragic one. Both have horrible family lives. Lee’s mother d…”

  ★ 4/5trigun3569 on Hardcover

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